The UK has been leading the charge against crypto criminality for some time, but never more so than in the past few months, which saw a plethora of court wins, legislative proposals and regulatory advancements.

In this article for the Law Society Gazette, Keith Oliver and Amalia Neenan FitzGerald review some of the most arresting recent developments, such as plans to introduce new legislation in the summer to target cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, the enactment of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, which brought, among others, cryptoassets under the scope of UK regulated activities, or the recent trial of ex-takeaway worker Jian Wen for crypto money laundering offences.

They also discuss some of the imbalances in the current UK approach, such as the treatment of exchange traded funds.

They also point out that while UK has made concerted regulatory strides to root out crypto misuses and offer a sanctuary to good actors, the words “caveat emptor” still ring true.